Search form

App to Give Tourists a Look Inside Local Homes

News

App to Give Tourists a Look Inside Local Homes

Anthropologist Haukur Sigurðsson is creating an app to help visitors get to know his hometown of Ísafjörður in the West Fjords, Vísir reports. He hopes the app will give tourists insight into the town’s history and the stories of its residents. The trial version of the app will be available this summer.

“Many locals have talked about some annoyance coming along with tourists, especially with those who come by cruise ship. Tourists have even gone so far as peeking in people’s windows,” Haukur states.

Over 100 cruise ships stop in Ísafjörður every summer. “Then maybe 8,500 people come into the town daily, in a town where only 2,500 live. So there is a bit of a crowd and irritation,” Haukur adds.

Haukur says he got the idea for the app after he and his family kept getting questions about their house from visitors passing by. “So I decided to create an app that allows tourists to peek in the windows of locals, not literally, but via the app. I’m going to have some locals on the team with me and produce little short films about the people and their houses, talk about their families and what they do. Then tourists can explore Ísafjörður and learn about the people, the town, and the town’s history by using the app.”

Haukur has assembled a small team to work on the project. “We are a few people sharing a workplace in the old shoe store in Ísafjörður. We are getting started with the preparatory work now,” he says. “If it goes well then maybe it would be possible to do the same for other towns in the West Fjords.”